Queensland's planned new coal mine could impact the climate, the Great Barrier Reef, water, and local species. Yet still it has been declared as 'critical infrastructure' by the state government.

The MV Shen Neng I spills oil onto the Great Barrier Reef in 2010. Large accidents are rare, but there is still very little monitoring of long-term chronic damage from shipping.
AAP Image/AMSA
May 24, 2015

Port traffic near the Great Barrier Reef will more than double by 2025, as coal and other exports grow. While major incidents are rare, the chronic toll on the reef itself still remains largely unknown.

The World Heritage Committee has called for a comprehensive assessment not just of the threats to the Great Barrier Reef, but of their cumulative effect.
AAP Image/Australian Institute for Marine Science, Ray Berkelmans
March 30, 2015

The government says it has met all of the recommendations for safeguarding the Great Barrier Reef. But a close reading of the dozens of UN recommendations shows that many have been only partly fulfilled.

A new report aims to establish exactly what we do and don't know about the effects of dredging on the Great Barrier Reef, and suggests that managing fine sediments will be one of the biggest challenges.

Abbot Point on the Great Barrier Reef, where dredge spoil will be dumped on land.
AAP Image/Supplied by Greenpeace
March 16, 2015

The Australian government’s latest report on the Great Barrier Reef, submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre last Friday, has been carefully crafted and word-smithed, with many of its claims supported…

Flying over Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef.
Kiyo/Flickr
October 28, 2014

The Great Barrier Reef is in trouble, and a draft government plan to ensure its survival does not go far enough. A number of submissions including those from the Australian Academy of Science and Environmental…

Much of the Great Barrier Reef is in poor health. Scientists have called for dredging decisions at Abbot Point to be reopened.
Flickr/Robert Linsdell
September 2, 2014

Before the 2013 election, Tony Abbott gave us fair warning that he would turn the clock back on the environment. As promised, his government has devoted itself to short-term economics and the sort of hardline…

Tonight’s Four Corners on ABC investigates dredging at ports on the Great Barrier Reef, including claims that the federal government is reportedly seeking alternatives to dumping dredge spoil at sea at…

Healthy coral on the Great Barrier Reef. New research shows that corals exposed to dredging have increased risk of disease.
dion gillard/Flickr
July 16, 2014

A long-awaited report on environmental failures at the biggest port along the Great Barrier Reef coastline and today’s federal budget may not seem connected – but if you read the report, it’s clear just…

The United Nations is concerned about port expansions and dredging disposal in the Great Barrier Reef – but that bigger picture is ignored in new ‘Reef Facts’ commercials.
Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team
May 1, 2014

New “Reef Facts” commercials are currently airing during prime-time television shows in Australia, purporting to tell the “facts” about the environmental health of the Great Barrier Reef. It comes amid…

Bigger picture: the Great Barrier Reef seen from the Landsat satellite.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons
March 20, 2014

“Save the reef” has become a popular catch-cry among many environment groups, with Greenpeace’s Great Barrier Reef website shared more than 125,000 times on social media to date. It and many similar campaigns…

Coral bleaching is one of the more obvious signs the Great Barrier Reef is in trouble.
mattk1979/Flickr
March 13, 2014

With the approval of dredging as part of the Abbot Point port expansion, Australia has given the green light to an increase in coal exports. While opposition to the plan has focused primarily on the effects…

Protesters are furious at recent decisions over the Great Barrier Reef, but how much power does its official guardian have?
AAP Image/Supplied by Greenpeace
March 10, 2014

Seeing the fierce debate sparked by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chairman’s recent article on The Conversation about the Abbot Point coal port expansion, I can sympathise with the dilemma…

Already operating as a coal port, the disposal of dredge material from expanding Abbot Point is now the subject of a legal challenge.
GBRMPA
March 2, 2014

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s recent decision to allow 3 million cubic metres of dredge material to be disposed of 25 kilometres off Abbot Point in north Queensland has attracted passionate…